The Artist as Curator

Born in Vietnam and raised in Denmark, the conceptualist Danh Vo’s rapid rise in the art world can be attributed to his incisive and enigmatic style. His most famous work to date involved “building” a to-scale model of the Statue of Liberty: the hundreds of discrete chunks were never actually assembled into a whole; instead they were scattered around the globe to represent the reach of democracy and American imperialism. Last year, Vo won the Guggenheim’s prestigious Hugo Boss Prize, a biennial award that comes with a solo show at the museum. Continuing his exploration of identity and heritage, Vo has filled his show, which opens on March 15, with artwork, kitschy Americana (above right) and Oriental knickknacks that belonged to the late painter Martin Wong. “I consider it a kind of collaboration,” he says. “And I don’t have any problems collaborating with dead people.”

Another of Vo’s exhibitions, which opens on March 20 at Marian Goodman Gallery, cleverly assembles the personal effects of Robert McNamara, the former secretary of defense. Largely remembered for escalating the American involvement in the Vietnam War, McNamara is a fraught figure for the artist, whose family fled their homeland in a boat when he was 4 years old. But McNamara is also an ideal subject for Vo, who is once again deconstructing a complex symbol of American power.